Camera systems for vehicles such as, for example, on-board camera systems, dashboard cameras, in-vehicle systems, etc. are increasing in use and popularity. Such camera systems are sometimes referred to as “Dash Cams” because they are often mounted to a vehicle dashboard. They are often installed into a vehicle after the overall vehicle has been manufactured, as an “after-sales” modification or personalisation of the vehicle by a user and are employed as a means to capture images of an area in and/or around a vehicle. Images captured by such systems may be used as evidence in the case of an accident, damage, or the like. Often, such camera systems are configured to continuously record video footage of a view through a windscreen of a vehicle in which they are mounted. Such camera systems may be attached to the interior of the vehicle windscreen or to the top of the dashboard of the vehicle.
Some known camera systems are operative to capture an image, a sequence of images, and/or record video footage when the vehicle is started, responsive to a user input, and/or automatically responsive to detection of movement of the vehicle.
Typically, a camera is mounted to the superstructure of the vehicle or window by way of an adhesive or suction attachment coupled to the camera through an arm so that the camera field of view is not obstructed by the adhesive or suction attachment or superstructure of the vehicle. Optionally, the arm may be movably attached to one other or both of the attachment or camera. Such movable attachment may be by way of a ball and socket joint in which the ball may be tightened around the socket by way of a screw thread and nut arrangement or some other mechanism may be utilised for maintaining the orientation of the arm once it has been moved to a desired position.
As such camera systems become more sophisticated in terms of their functionality, they become more expensive and may, potentially, be a target for thieves if they are left in-situ in a vehicle on a permanent basis since, by their very nature, they are located in a highly visible position within the vehicle.
Whilst a camera that is detachable from a mount assembly may be desirable, so that the camera can be removed from the vehicle, introducing detattachment functionality to such a camera system may weaken the robustness of the means by which the camera is mounted to the vehicle. If the strength of the bond between camera and vehicle, via mount assembly, is insufficient, then during an event in which the vehicle should experience a severe change in speed, for example such as may occur in the event of the vehicle crashing into something, the force experienced by the camera may be such as to cause the camera to be detached from the mount assembly. This may potentially cause the camera to fly through the interior of the vehicle possibly causing injury to one or more vehicle occupants and/or damage to the vehicle itself.
The present invention has been devised with the foregoing in mind.